Renters unite. Another outrage.

[Jack Sprat]

When living in California some 30 years ago, my monthly rent payment included water and trash removal. Now, I'm living in Florida 30 years later and I pay 30.00 for monthly water and 7.00 to carry my trash to the single trash compactor on the property some 100 yards away. I moved in 7 days before the end of February and I'm told that I owe the standard 30.00 per month. "Just my bad luck" they tell me. "They understand it's not fair" I'm told. The property owners collect the water fee and charge a flat monthly fee, instead of basing it on usage. Even if you used no water and were gone all month on travel, you still owe the monthly flat rate of 30.00. Are renters all over the country seeing things like this or is this peculiar to Florida?

When I was growing up, the city would remove trash as a public service. Then came 'reducing the size of govenment' and now we pay private trash companies to charge whatever the market can bear.

We need a Consumer Protection Agency in the worst way. When you leave home in the morning, you have mongrel dogs of commerce trying to rip every dime from your pocket. If you've got it, they want it.

[babylonsister]

1. I recently moved into an apartment. Water is $12/mth, there are

dumpsters around the bend and are free. :shrug:

Not all rentals are created equal.

Edit to add: I moved in the first of the month, so don't have some of those issues. I expect to have to pay for water whether I'm here or not.

[KILL THE WISE ONE]

2. most newer complexes are sub metered on water

so use lots of water next month

[Skittles]

3. LOL

been paying that shit in Texas for years

[hatesthegop]

4. Just to fix their ass

I would let me water run continously for a whole month!

[Donnachaidh]

11. ROFLMAO!!!!!

I'd love to do that here.

[SargeUNN]

5. In Arizona we have to pay taxes on our rent

While our stupid Governor Jan Brewer refuses funds for Kid's Care. Arizona home of John McCain, John Kyl, and oh yeah JOE ARPAIO!!!!

[Jack Sprat]

12. Isn't it incredible? Someone is making a ton of money

while the rest of the country is just trying to survive. I've spent my entire life watching fewer people enjoy more wealth than I imagined existed, while watching more people struggle to make ends meet and pay for a roof over their head.

[upi402]

6. Schools, USDA, FDA...ugh everything has been diminished

It all started with Reagan. It's only possible with the media as a propaganda organ. You'd think it would dawn on Republicans... but it doesn't. They feel they deserve it and hope they can do it to someone else someday. Just nasty.

[Jack Sprat]

9. They privatized what were once services

and charge much more than the taxes would have been. Now they call them fees, which are higher because stockholders of the trash companies can collect money for work they don't perform. Instead of creating government jobs for the city, some lower wage workers are employed by big private sanitation firms and people who don't lift a finger collect profits on their work. Oh, I keep forgetting, that's business in the free market. The free market economy rewards hard work.

[RKP5637]

7. Here the landlord must pay water for the complex, but it's factored into the rent,

so one still ends up paying it, same as property taxes on the property. Garage collection is also generally payed by the landlord, but factored into the rent. So in reality, one still ends up paying for it... the flip side is if it makes the rent too high, then it's not an attractive rental... I now call this USA, Inc., By the Corporations for The Corporations. You're ripped off every which way you turn.

[MissB]

8. It used to be that EPA would consider the complex a public water system

for charging a fee for water. But an interpretation of EPA's submetering rule means that apartments can now charge a fee for water without taking on additional regulations. So use more water.

The complex is probably trying to avoid having to install and maintain individual water meters (let alone read them each month!)

It sucks if you're a low water user, but it'd be great if you had four teenagers living with you!

[Jack Sprat]

10. For one thing, it's a way to camoflouge (sp) the cost of renting.

I would rather know on the front end the entire cost of renting than getting it piecemeal. They ran the water sprinkler system all weekend long while it rained most of Sunday. I guess they did this to make the grass grow quicker and higher, so it needs cutting more often. Whatever happened to clover? What was wrong with good old clover. It was pretty and the bees loved the stuff. Come to think of it, I liked it better too. It was soft and cool to barefoot in.

[upi402]

13. I used to have rental properties

and I was such a sucker in the beginning. (mea culpa, i'm not totally evil)There were no credit checks or criminal record checks on my properties. I only got screwed when somebody had bad money habits ... they always ended up becoming my problem if I gave people a break. It took a few serious bodyblows, but I learned. My area has good tenant protection laws, a couple of my houses didn't. So it varies, but worth checking out your county rules.

[Bitwit1234]

14. We pay 30 for water and 30 for sewage. We pay 7 each for the hook up

We pay 22 for garbage pick up. that is almost 100 dollars a month and then we have to pay for electricity, steam heat and water for the steam heat. So people are moving out in droves. I don't understand why you pay 30 for the water and 7 dollars to have hook up and the same for sewage. Then garbage hook up and then start a new system where you have to rent the special garbage can. We used to have dumpsters, but that was too easy now they are starting a system to rent the plastic cans which don't hold hardly anything and then you need two and have to watch like a hawk because the neighbors dump in you can and fills it up.

[Berry Cool]

15. Rental property fees vary with the property. Nothing consistent about 'em.

Some places you pay separately for things like water, trash removal, etc., in others you don't. It just depends on the property.

I'm very lucky. My landlords run a commercial property on the same premises and they not only don't charge me extra for trash removal, they let me dispose of my trash in their very large dumpsters (which they are paying to have emptied frequently). I never have to worry about timing my trash takeout to ensure I don't miss "trash pickup day" on my street, and the dumpsters are well away from the building and fenced off so the smell and other unpleasantries of having trash near one's home are nonexistent.